Government to incorporate IoT in its policies

Government is set to review the National Information and Communication policy in a bid to incorporate the Internet of Things (IoT) network. IoT is a physical network that allows people to do different things in an automated way. The technology or devices involve collecting and exchanging of data. It is an infrastructure that connects people to devices, machines to machines and servers to device.

IoT devices and sensors are expected to exceed mobile phones as the largest category of connected devices by 2018, growing at a 23 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2015 to 20121. The IOT technology can be incorporated for home and personal use, in smart cities, industrialization, automotive cars, where cars will no longer need a human interface to drive them instead they will use devices to control them. This will see traffic congestion minimal.

Eng. Daniel Obam, a Communications Radio Technology Expert at the National Communications Secretariat says that Kenya is an early adaptor to this form of infrastructure and if policies are implemented, the network would also industrialization run smoothly provided the devices in IoT are utilized.

The number of high speed internet users has nearly doubled in a year to March driven by increased expansion of 3G network by mobile operators, CA of Kenya report shows.

According to the Access Gap Study Report 2016, 94.4 per cent of the Kenyan population has access to 2G network services whereas 78 per cent of the population has access to 3G services. This has largely been driven by increase in mobile-based internet penetration through expansion of 3G network coverage by the various mobile operators as well as rise in popularity of social networking sites.

The report further states that broadband speeds less than or equal to 1Mbps recorded the highest number of subscriptions while those less than or equal to 256 Kbps recorded the least. The total number of Internet users hit 37.4 million translating to overall Internet penetration levels of 87.2 per cent during the period under review up from the 71.7 per cent the previous year. Mobile phone subscriptions form 99.4 per cent of the total Internet users.

It is also estimated that by 2021 there will be 9 billion mobile subscriptions, 7.7 billion mobile broadband subscriptions, and 6.3 billion smartphone subscriptions. Worldwide smartphone subscriptions will grow at a 10.6 per cent CAGR from 2015 to 2012 with Asia/Pacific (APAC) gaining 1.7 billion new subscribers alone. This is in reference to 2016 Ericcson Mobility report.

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Mercy Nduati

Mercy Nduati works as an Editorial Assistant at Kenya Engineer. With vast experience in communication and media, she is good at carrying out high profile interviews, writing, editing and publishing skills. Follow @mcnduati on Twitter to interact or email: mcnduati@gmail.com